Museum of the Seasons (Podcast)

(Work in Progress)

A collaboration between David Pohl
and self selected students at Vincentian Academy, Pittsburgh PA

Museum of the Seasons is a collection of music, soundscapes

and spoken word based on the four seasons. Speakers placed

throughout The Legacy gARTen will play the sounds created

for Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn during their respective 

seasons.

Students
Josh Smith
Steven Bartoszewicz
Ben Robinson
Chad Perryman
Missa Sang

Objectives

To explore sound in a variety of ways including...
Sound as texture, mood and color (tonal value)
The physicality of sound: Sound as sculpture.
Sound and environment.
Ambient music & soundscapes
Spoken word & poetry
Repetition in sound used for creating meditative environments
Time based art / Contemplation of time/seasons/nature/cycles

Spring

A film by Ferenc Cakó
Music by Vivaldi
The Four Seasons: Spring

Longing In The Rain

Longing In The Rain, originally uploaded by *Sakura*.

Photograph by Sakura
Tokyo, Japan
2009

Landscapes

Levi van Veluw, Landscapes, 2008, 1.57 min, HDV

The last days of the tulips

I looked at the fading tulips in my yard, and thought back to my last post, when I was planting bulbs in the still frozen ground.  The thoughts of false spring have faded, and I am enjoying the warm days and cool nights of real spring.  The rain seems to be softening the ground to let the tender shoots come forth, and they seem greener each day.  I am amazed by the number of perennials that are springing from the ground, it's like a present to watch the shoots appear and see what appears.  I planted a lot of new species last year, so I am gaining a whole new perspective on the early life cycle of the plants which were fully emerged when I planted them.

Winifred Lutz Garden (4 Seasons)

Winifred Lutz Garden (4 Seasons), originally uploaded by Mattress Factory.

birdsongradio

powered by birdsong radio

A Cardinal hears the Thrush song

A Cardinal hears the Thrush song, originally uploaded by Ethan Hein.

peeps

peeps, originally uploaded by emilychang.

You Grow Girl

About You Grow Girl™ and Gayla Trail
Gardening for the People.

You Grow Girl™ was launched by Gayla Trail in February 2000 and has grown into a thriving online community that speaks to a new kind of gardener, seeking to redefine the modern world relationship to plants. This contemporary, laid-back approach to gardening places equal importance on environmentalism, style, affordability, art, and humour.

Now in its eighth year online, You Grow Girl™ has become a thriving community for likeminded gardeners and even self-confessed “black thumbs.” The project's aim has always been to promote exploration, excitement and a d.i.y approach to growing plants without the restrictions of traditional ideas about gardening. While we have never said "You must do things this way" organic growing and a motto of “Do no harm” has always been the platform to start from. I strongly believe that most people take the plants around them and the food they eat for granted, and that if they are encouraged to see the wonder of plants and the relative ease with which they can be grown, it will foster a respect for nature that will extend beyond their backyards. - Gayla Trail

False Spring

Last night someone mentioned how much they are enjoying our false spring. I thought it was a funny term, but understood it in the context of a warm couple of days after a cold spell, to be followed by another cold spell. This morning, I noticed birds singing, and again later today, as if they were saying that they too were enjoying the warm weather. Later, I dug in the still frozen ground and planted about 300 tulip bulbs, awoke still sleeping worms and tender shoots that are getting ready for spring. I checked in on my beehive, they were busy carrying out the dead bees from the hive and learning new flight paths. And I thought to myself, that days like this seem like a gift because we know that the weather will be cold again before it warms. Do we take for granted the days of real spring when days are predictably warmer and lead to summer? I felt so fortunate to be able to spend much of today outside and feel the sun on my skin, the dirt in my hands, the song of the birds, and to look forward to the tulips in my garden. What do you look forward to this spring?

Just Another Day ( The Four Seasons)

Music by Brian Eno

Singing: The Key To A Long Life

Singing: The Key To A Long Life
by Brian Eno

dance of the sugarplum fairy tree

dance of the sugarplum fairy tree, originally uploaded by pingting.

dance of the sugarplum fairy tree

dance of the sugarplum fairy tree, originally uploaded by pingting.

Red Take Two

I have not been able to go to the recent meetings because I have forgotten and had tests etc. I can't quite remember what I was supposed to be doing but I do remember something about finding sound bites related to our color. So I'm going to do that now.


Cardinal Call




This video is quite long so I've picked out the sections I liked.

Saxophone
First 12 seconds, 17-20 seconds.

Saxaphone
Uploaded by reelgood0008

Gymnopedie No 1

Gymnopedie No 1
Erik Satie

These short, atmospheric pieces are written in 3/4 time, with each sharing a common theme and structure. Collectively, the Gymnopédies are regarded as the precursors to modern ambient music.
Satie himself used the term "furniture music" to refer to some of his pieces, implying they could be used as mood-setting background music. However, Satie used this term to refer to only some of his later, 20th century compositions, without specific reference to the Gymnopédies as background music. From the second half of the 20th century on, the Gymnopédies were often erroneously described as part of Satie's body of furniture music, perhaps due to John Cage's interpretation of them.

Introducing Lilli

Lillian Catherine Werner

8 pounds 15 ounces. 21.5 inches

Born Friday November 7, 2008

The First Season

Seasons are cyclical.
Every season depends on each other to "survive".

If you had to decide which of the seasons came first
(the one that started them all) which one would you choose? Why?

(add your answer as a comment below)

Ambient Music

Ambient music is a musical genre in which sound is more important than notes. It is generally identifiable as being broadly atmospheric and environmental in nature.

Brian Eno is generally credited with coining the term ambient music in the mid-1970s to refer to music that, as he stated, can be either actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener and that exists on the cusp between melody and texture. Eno, who describes himself as a non-musician, termed his experiments in sound as treatments rather than as traditional performances. Eno used the word ambient to describe music that creates an atmosphere that puts the listener into a different state of mind; having chosen the word based on the Latin term ambire, to surround.

Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.

Brian Eno
Music for Airports liner notes,
September 1978

Brian Eno interviewed about ambient music and Music for Airports

____________________________________________________________



Music for Airports
Brian Eno

____________________________________________________________



Wind on Wind
Robert Fripp & Brian Eno

____________________________________________________________



Evening Star
Robert Fripp & Brian Eno

____________________________________________________________



Late October
Harold Budd & Brian Eno

John Hurt : experimental sound artist

Here is another very interesting video piece.
ConFusion of Sounds is a gorgeous example of sound and image working together.
The sounds are recorded bits of ordinary everyday sounds cut and re-edited together
to create something extra-ordinary. Take a look.

Bullies In Our Woods

Bullies In Our Woods
Wendy Osher
The Pittsburgh CHildren's Museum
September 19 2008 - January 18 2009

Pittsburghers are so lucky to have vast, beautiful city parks. But there are bullies on the loose in our woods! Invasive vines and trees threaten to squeeze the life out of the huge variety of plants and trees that nature has evolved over thousands of years. We appreciate and use the parks in many ways, but our presence has caused that healthy balance in the woods to tip. Sit inside this tangle of vines, view the changing skies above, and listen to the sounds of our parks. How many different things can you hear? How can we keep our woods strong and continue to enjoy their many wonders?

The Private Prairie, Winnifred Lutz

The Private Prairie, Winnifred Lutz, originally uploaded by jenlen.

Deatil from
Winifred Lutz
Garden Installation (on-going), 1993
Permanent Installation at The Mattress Factory
Stones, concrete, rebar, wood, planting materials

Playing the Building

Playing the Building
David Byrne
Battery Maritime Building
NYC, 2008

Seasons

Seasons

Museum of the Seasons

Museum of the Seasons
A collaboration between David Pohl and self selected students of Vincentian Academy

Objectives

1) Create a sound installation for the Legacy gARTen based on the four seasons.

2) Create a (collaborative) online archive of images, sounds, and videos documenting the process
of working on the gARTen during the course of one year, over all four seasons.

3) Explore new ways of thinking about sound:

Sound as texture, mood and color
Sound as sculpture: Ambient music & soundscapes
Spoken word & poetry as an art form
Repetition in sound used for creating meditative environments
Time based art
Contemplation of time/seasons/cycles (Seasons of Life)

Here's a list of the audio, video and photo sharing sites for our project

GarageBand for uploading audio files & podcasts.

Legacy gARTen on Flickr

Blip TV for uploading and sharing video on our blog.

How To Use Garage Band (Part One)

The Zoom H2 Digital Recorder

This is the Zoom H2 digital recorder which we are going to use to capture sound for the gARTen.
It has four built in microphones for 360 degree surround sound recording. It records on a SD
memory card (just like a digital camera) and connects to a computer (Windows & Mac) with
a USB plug.

Here's a link a PDF document of the owner's manual.

Rebirth

The Color Green

Green brings to mind the season of Spring, reawakening, rebirth, and life.

Sounds

Vibrant Horns and violin - announcing new life

The squish of a dropped sponge as it hits the floor - the lushness of green vegetation

A low humming - the pulse of life



"Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises."

--Pedro Calderon de la Barca [15th Century Spanish Poet and Playwright]

Soul Meets Sea- Fall into the Blue

Waves are rolling through your head, distance and yet distinct. You think of the ocean, wide and deep, for it is calling to you. You look out on the horizon, where the sky and water meet. It has no divide, no line separating water from air. You smell the salt hear the bow line creak in the wind. You hear the harsh cry of a gull, and you spirit flows free. Free of the constrains of your body, you look around. It is a world of blue, never ending, always continuing with the curve. The wind whips around your ears, whistling. The ocean is there, stretching forever into the dawn.

Waves, with french horns gradually increasing in mellow tones, coming into the tones of the trumpets, sweet and soothing. A piano plays in the background, a piece called Sea Voyage. You can close your eyes and simply imagine the ocean in all of it's blue splendor.

Yellow

Coldplay - "Yellow"

Yellow in Seasons

Summer - Sun, Light, Sunlight

Fall - Leaves

Winter - Lights, Candles, Fire, Warmth

Spring - Flowers

Qualities of Yellow

Bright

Cheerful

Sunshine

Energy

Light

Vibrancy

Sounds of Yellow

Trumpets

Horns

Flutes

Lighter sounds

“The colours red, blue and green are real. The colour yellow is a mystical experience shared by everybody.”(Stoppard, 1967).

The Color Red

A few things that remind me of the color red.

Red:

Saxaphone

Cardinal Call

Lower Notes of the Piano

There are a lot of Cardinals around my house and in the winter I love to look at them. Cardinals are red and that's where the association comes from.

I would use the lower notes on the piano because there is the darker side to the color red. It is the color of blood, the color of war.

"Lady Macbeth:

Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!–One; two: why, then

'tis time to do't.–Hell is murky.–Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and

afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our

pow'r to accompt?–Yet who would have thought the old man to

have had so much blood in him?" Shakespeare Macbeth

This quote reminds me of red because it is blood that Lady Macbeth is seeing on her hands.

There were more but I can't remember the names of the instruments. Red really isn't one of my favorite colors so there is not much I can say about it.

Red, Red Wine   by: Bob Marley

The Seed Sprouts

(Above) Satellite view of Vincentian Academy from Google Maps.

It's nice to see this Vincentian gARTen blog is up & growing.
You may have noticed that I've made some changes to the
look of the blog. It's quite simple to do with the new Blogger.

Blogger uses a WYSIWYG editor which is as easy to use
as creating a document in Microsoft Word. It's easy to
change the size and color of text. Add photos, hyperlinks
and embed video.

You can find useful tutorials from Blogger and more help 

right here.

How to add your comment to the blog assignment

Hey People! You should click to comment on Jan's Blog assignment below, instead of creating a whole new posting unless you are making a new and different comment. Make sense?

thanks,
mw

Assignment: What Sustains You?

The theme for the Vincentian gARTen is sustainability. Here is a link to a wikipedia definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
We have discussed in our first few days, of what sustains us individually and how we can express that visually on the copper leaves of the metal water sculpture. These leaves will be accompanied by words or a quote that will serve to inspire others who view this artwork.

Link to definition of sustain: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sustain

Explain what sustains you and what about it that gives you support.

Include a an inspirational quote, verse or saying that you would include as a part of the gARTen water sculpture.

You will be graded by one or more of your teachers by the depth of your answer.

-Jan Loney

I am so excited to work with Jan Loney in our new gARTen. I think it's cool that my grade has the opportunity to be working on the first piece for the foundation of the legacy gARTen. :)

Our 1st Artist-in-Residence Is Here!

Welcome, Vincentian gARTen-ers!

Our gARTen is underway! Jan Loney, metal artist, will be starting her residency the week of September 8th.

I invite you to blog your experience or questions during this process. Check back often for updates.

Mrs. West

Orange Harvest

David Pohl
Orange Harvest, 2006
Digital Video
15 seconds

Planting a Seed

I created a blog today for The Vincentian Legacy gARTen.

The URL address for this blog is : http://legacygarten.blogspot.com/

All students, Vincentian faculty and artist educators will be invited to
become contributors to the blog.

Here is a link to my Blogger profile and a list of my other blogs.